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Germany's renewables prospects / E.ON's "historic loss"

International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA)

Renewable Energy Prospects: Germany

A new IRENA report “Renewable Energy Prospects Germany” examines the country’s energy transition in the last decades, identifying best practice policies and technology experiences. It also shows how two-thirds of Germany’s power generation could come from renewables by 2030. If Germany wants to reach its target of 30 percent renewable energy in total final energy consumption it will need a transition in other areas, particularly in the heating and transport sectors, the report finds. “The power sector alone is not sufficient to transition the country’s energy system away from fossil fuels,” it states.

“Historic loss”

E.ON will report a record net loss of more than five billion euros on Wednesday, company insiders told business daily Handelsblatt and Reuters. The main culprit was write-downs totalling more than eight billion euros, mainly on conventional power generation, writes Jürgen Flauger in Handelsblatt. The company declined to comment, referring to the official release of nine-month figures on Wednesday. According to the article, the write-downs stemmed mainly from difficulties in the wholesale power market, where renewables generation has pushed down prices. E.ON is about to spin off its conventional power generation into a new company, to be called Uniper, at year-end.

“Significant increase of feed-in management measures”

The Federal Grid Agency (Bundesnetzagentur) has published its yearly overview on the development of renewable energies in Germany. For the first time, more than one percent of renewable power generation could not be fed into the grid in 2014, mainly because of grid bottlenecks, according to the report. The agency said the amount of power lost in this way was rising rapidly and illustrated the need for grid extensions. According to the report, renewable capacity supported by the renewable energy law amounted to 85 GW at the end of 2014, which increased to 89 GW during the first half of 2015.

“Energy transition lacks political compass”

The VIK association of industrial energy and power station businesses has criticised the political “zigzag course” of the government on energy policy. VIK chairman Roland Mohr said that energy-intensive industry needed a clear and reliable energy policy framework and perspectives in the future. A global climate treaty was important to prevent a climate political solo by the EU and Germany which would endanger competitiveness and jobs.

The Hessian ministry for economic affairs and energy has published an energy monitoring report, detailing the status and effects of the energy transition in the state. Hesse’s final energy consumption fell by 10 percent in the past 15 years, as the amount of electricity needed for production and growth declined, it said. The share of renewables in power consumption has doubled since 2010, to 14.4 percent in 2014. Minister Tarek Al-Wazir said the results showed that the uncoupling of economic growth and resource consumption was possible.

“Grid operators plan 700 MW cable to Sweden”

German grid operator 50Hertz and Swedish counterpart Svenska kraftnät have begun planning for a new large-capacity cable connecting the two countries’ power grids, reports the Institute of Renewbale Energy Industry. Following an earlier declaration of intent, the operators signed a cooperation agreement on the maximum voltage DC cable named “Hansa Powerbridge”, which is to run through the Baltic Sea. Feasibility studies found the Swedish power market can benefit from excess North German wind power, while Germany could import Swedish hydropower at times of low wind. According to plans, the cable with a length of around 300 kilometres is to reach a capacity of 700 MW by 2025.

Craig Morris explains in a commentary in Renewables International why Germany’s economy and energy minister Sigmar Gabriel has scrapped support for solar storage systems in homes, why the solar industry is outraged and why grid-attached storage is favourable to residential power storage.

Read the article in English here. Read another report by Renewables International “Germany no longer hotspot for PV” here.

Rheinische Post / WAZ

“Steag builds giant battery at plant in Walsum”

Utility Steag will invest 100 million euros in a lithium-ion battery in North Rhine-Westphalia that will store excess solar and wind power. The battery will have a capacity of 15 megawatts and could supply electricity to 50,000 households for one hour if needed.

COP21 – Road to Paris

International Energy Agency (IEA)

World Energy Outlook 2015

The IEA has published its World Energy Outlook 2015. In advance of the UN climate summit in Paris, “there are clear signs that an energy transition is underway: renewables contributed almost half of the world's new power generation capacity in 2014 and have already become the second-largest source of electricity (after coal),” the report finds. Global energy demand should grow by nearly one-third by 2040, the agency found. However, the link between economic growth and energy-related emissions should weaken.

“3.5 million Germans endangered by sea-level rise”

If the temperature rises by 4° Celsius, 3.5 million people on Germany’s coasts would be endangered by rising sea levels; if the temperature increases by 2° Celsius, 1.3 million people would be at risk, Bild reports. China and coastal cities like New York, London and Mumbai would be even worse hit.